After years hanging around in the rainforest with scientists, Arkitrek finally gets a research station to design. The site is on the boundary between a protected rainforest and an area newly opened for plantation. The SAFE Project (Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems) aims to understand how the impacts of forest modification ramify through the web of life. The project will be challenging and tough questions will be asked. The design must address the logistical constraints of a remote site and like the nature of the SAFE...

Congratulations to our arkitrekkers for making Arkitrek Camp2 such an outstanding success. Their brief was to inspire water conservation practices on the stunning and isolated island of Mantanani. In practice this was to be an eye catching roof structure as the core component of a rainwater harvesting system. The roof/s will also provide bunk-bed style accommodation for the community tourism operation at Camp Mantanani. We reckon they achieved that, and then some... Beautiful Mantanani: Boat at anchor Arkitrek Camp2...

Read the original blog by Camps International Project Diary here For quite a while now our kindergarten (Tadika, in Malay) at Camp Tinangol has looked like some large posts stuck in the mud and essentially that's what it was as the foundations and unique design features were slowly put in place. But during a sudden burst of pre-summer activity something much more 'Kindy' shaped has started to appear. We're proud of our Tinangol Kindy as the design that our eco-architect partners at Arkitrek came up with in consultation...

Objectives and Origins of the Arkitrek Camps The Arkitrek Camps deliver innovative and inspirational design to social and environmental organisations free of charge. We can do this by running projects as an educational program. Here's how the Camps program evolved. The objective of Arkitrek is to conserve natural resources through design and education. This is our social objective, it pervades our entire business. We don’t have a CSR department because to do so would imply that we have departments which are not socially...

This post has been updated. The original ‘in the shit, a septic tank guide’ has been archived . Two common misconceptions about septic tanks. 1. Septic tanks are an acceptable sewage treatment solution 2. Septic tanks are not supposed to overflow The first misconception is the biggy; A septic tank on its own is not good enough to treat sewage waste to an acceptable standard. Further treatment is required. The second misconception shows a basic misunderstanding of the processes at work in a septic tank. This article...